Joel Scott

R&B / Soul / Gospel / Funk / Jazz

Bio

Scott has been in demand in the jazz and pop worlds for 20 years. He has backed such pop notables as the Jackson 5, Aretha Franklin, Lou Rawls and Dionne Warwick, crafting a new arrangement of her hit "Always Something There to Remind Me" on her 1998 album "Dionne Sings Dionne." In the jazz realm Scott has worked with many first-rate singers, among them Marlena Shaw, Carmen Bradford and O.C. Smith. He can be heard playing the jazz piano parts that Jeff Bridges rendered in a nightclub scene in the movie "The Fabulous Baker Boys." While he names jazz giants such as Wynton Kelly, Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans as key influences, Scott's classical background permeates his jazz. "When I play bebop, I try to make it sound like Bach, if he were me," he said.

Teaching Philosophy

"When pianist Joel Scott plays, he feels the music and moves with it. His head bobs up and down and turns side to side, his shoulders hunch this way and then that, his feet pat and he's almost always smiling. Watching him can be as intriguing as listening to the spirited notes he issues. He teaches his students to do the same and get into the music that are playing."